Closure for containers and the like and method of making the same



Sept. 18, 1934. F, O'L KILLORIN 1,974,252

CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS AND THE LIKE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 12. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR BY HIS ATTORNEYS W/Wg CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS AND THE LIKE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Aug. 12. 193?. 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 =I- INVENTOR I 5 m (9'1, KLMJQ M BY HIS ATTORNEYS W66 7@% v Patented Sept. 18, 1934 PATENT OFFICE CLOSURE FOR CONTAINERS AND THE LIKE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME- F'rancis OL Killorin, Waterbury, Conn, assignor' to Scovill Manufacturing Company,

New

Haven, Conn., a corporation of Connecticut Application August 12, 1932, Serial No. 628,539

9 Claims.

This invention relates to closures for containers and the like and a method of making the same.

Various users of caps, for example packagers of toilet articles, drugs and food preparations,

have come to demand closures that present an undefaced and unbroken outer surface and that make a substantially uninterrupted joint with the container body.

In order to provide a one-piece metal cap that meets these requirements, it has been proposed to shave tongues from the inner surface of the metal cap and roll up these tongues into the form of beads that constitute inner lugs for engaging the thread on the container to which the cap is to be applied. If the container has an uninterrupted thread, these lugs must necessarily be spaced at progressively increasing distances from the edge of the cap to accord with the pitch line of the thread. It follows, therefore, that tongues cut from the edge of a cap to form such staggered lugs are of unequal length and the bead-like lugs are unequal as to the degree of roll. As a result, the shorter tongues may not have suflicient metal to form a bead that has a proper degree of roll.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a method of making such closures.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a one-piece metal cap having bead-like internal lugs located at progressively increasing distances from the edge of the cap and formed from tongues of substantially-equal length and having substantially the same degree of roll.

With these general objects and others in view, the invention consists in the features, combinations, details of construction and arrangements of parts which will first be described in connection with the accompanying drawings and then more particularly pointed out.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of acontainer having thereon a closure constructed in.

accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of a preliminary blank;

Figure 3 is a top plan view of the same;

Figure 4 is a top plan view of the preliminary blank subsequent to a cutting step;

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view (enlarged) of the blank after further operations;

Figure '7 is a similar view of the completed cap;

Figure 8 is a view partly in elevation and partly in section of a blank for carrying out the invention in an alternative manner;

Figure 9 is a similar view of the blank subsequent to a cutting operation;

Figure 10 is a vertical sectional view (enlarged) of the blank after subsequent operations;

Figure 11 is a-schematic view relating to Figure 10;

Figure 12 is a vertical sectional view of modi-' fied cap construction; and

Figure 13 is a schematic view relating to the cap of Figure 12.

Referring to the drawings, Figures 1 and 7 illustrate a cap comprising a top 15 and a skirt 16. The skirt has an undefaced, unbroken outer surface and an uniterrupted bottom edge. Inside the cap are a plurality of thread-engaging lugs in the form of beads 17. These beads are located at progressively increasing distances from the bottom edge of the cap to accord with the pitch line of the thread of the container 14 to which the cap is to be applied. The beads 17 are formed from tongues of metal integrally anchored to the inner wall of the cap skirt. The several tongues are substantially equal in length and the several beads have substantially the same degree of roll.

The cap described may be produced in various ways but in carrying out the invention to what is now considered the best advantage, tongues of equal length are cut from the inner wall of a cap blank having edge portions located at progressivel'y varying distances from the top of the blank, the cuts starting from such edge portions. These edge portions may be parts of the continuous edge of a continuous wall or they may be the edges of the projections of an interrupted wall.

Figures 2-7 illustrate an example of the production of a cap, such as that described, from a blank having an interrupted wall.

By suitable forming and cutting operations, a preliminary blank is formed such as shown in Figures 2 and 3. This preliminary blank comprises a cup-shaped portion having a top 15 and a skirt 16, and a flat base flange 18. Portions of this flange 18 are cut away to leave a series of flange strips 19 of progressively increasing length (Figures 1 and 5). These strips are then bent downwardly to lie in the plane of skirt 16 and form, in effect, a broken or interrupted continuation of the skirt (Figure 6). This operation provides a blank having edge portions, namely, the end edges of projections 19, located at progressively increasing distances from the top of the blank. It is to be understood that the strips 19 are of such length that the edges thereof lie in a helix that substantially accords with the pitch 1] line of the thread of the container with which the cap is to be used.

Tongues of substantially equal length are now shaved from the inner wall of this blank, the cuts starting at the edge portions referred to and continuing to points in the main portion of the skirt, and these tongues are rolled up into bead-like formation to constitute the lugs 17. With tongues of substantially equal length the beads have substantially the same degree of roll.

Finally, the remnants of the strips or projections 19 are cut ofi at their junction with the main portion of the skirt of the blank. This leaves an even, normal edge for the completed cap as appears in Figure 7, the parts cut away being indicated by broken lines.

The result of the steps described is a cap having an undefaced, unbroken outer surface; an even, uninterrupted edge; and interior threadengaging lugs unequally spaced from the cap edge but formed from tongues of equal length and having an equal degree of roll. Thus, with the cap described there are no bead-like lugs that have insufiicient metal content or insuflicient degree of roll to function properly in use. Moreover, the method described, 1. e. making cuts that start at edges, obviates the practical difllculties of making cuts initiated at points in a smooth surface.

Figures 8-11 illustrate a method of producing the same cap construction from a blank in which the edge portions from which the cuts are made lie in a continuous edge, being the edge of a continuous wall.

First, a shell (Figure 8) is formed, by a drawing or other suitable process, that has a top 20 and a skirt portion 21. This skirt has the diameter of the desired cap but is longer than the desired cap skirt.

The end of the skirt 21 is then trimmed or cut off on a bias to leave a helical edge that accords substantially with the pitch line of the thread of the container with which the cap is to be used. This gives the blank a.skirt of varying length, the shortest part of which must be at least as long as the skirt of the desired cap and is preferably slightly longer. Certain equally spaced increments of the continuous edge of the skirt of this blank constitute the edge portion from which the tongues are to be cut.

Tongues of substantially equal length are now shaved from the inner wall of the cap blank, starting at the edge portions referred to, and the tongues are rolled up into bead-like lugs 22 like those previously described.

Finally, the edge of the cap blank is trimmed or cut off along a plane at right angles to the vertical axis of the cap blank, e. g. along broken line X-X (Figure 10), to give a normal, even edge.

The result is a cap such as that already described, these alternative methods resulting in substantially identical caps.

Figures 12 and 13 illustrate a modified construction of cap particularly adaptable for long-necked containers. In thisfurther embodiment of the invention, the cap comprises a top portion 25 and a skirt 26. The outer surface of the cap is smooth and undefaced. The upper part of the skirt has a thicker wall than the lower part, leaving an internal shoulder 2'7. This shoulder lies in a helix substantially corresponding to the pitch line of the thread of the container with which the cap is to be used.

Inside the cap are a plurality of thread-engaging lugs 28 in the form of beads formed from of substantially equal length, giving beads of substantially equal degree of roll.

This cap is like those previously described in that it has an undefaced outer surface, with lugs The tongues forming the bead are located at progressively increasing distances from i the edge of the cap and having substantially the same degree of roll. In this cap, however, the lugs are located relatively high up in the cap so that the cap may be used with a container having a long neck and still substantially cover the neck. By starting the cuts at an intermediate shoulder such as described, the lugs are located well up in the cap without cutting tongues so long as to involve an undue amount of metal to be rolled up.

The cap last described may be made from a cap blank in the form of a drawn or similar shell. The lower part of the inner wall of the shell is then stripped down to a helical shoulder corresponding to the pitch line desired. Certain increments of this shoulder constitute the edge portions located at progressively increasing distances from the top of the blank, previously referred to. That is, this shoulder is analogous to the edge of the blank of Figures 9 and 10 Starting at these edge portions, tongues of substantially equal length are shaved from the inner wall and, finally, the tongues are rolled up into bead-like lugs.

What is claimed is:

1. A closure for containers or the like, formed of metal and comprising a top portion and a skirt, the skirt having an undefaced outer surface, and a plurality of internal thread-engaging lugs formed from tongues of metal integrally con= nected to the inner wall of the cap skirt, said lugs being located at progressively increasing distances from the edge of the cap skirt and the said tongues from which said lugs are formed being of sub== stantially equal length.

2. A closure for containers and the like, formed of metal and comprising a top portion and a skirt, the skirt having an undefaced outer surface, and a plurality of internal thread-engaging lugs formed from tongues of metal integrally connected to the inner wall of the cap skirt and rolled up into bead-like form, said lugs being located at progressively increasing distances from the edge of the cap skirt and having substantially the same degree of roll.

3. A closure for containers and the like, formed of metal and comprising a top portion and a skirt, the skirt having an undefaced outer surface, the upper portion of the skirt wall being thicker than the lower portion, and a plurality of thread-engaging lugs formed from tongues of metal, the roots of which are integral with the thicker portion of the skirt wall, said lugs being located at progressively increasing distances from the edge of the cap skirt and the tongues from which said lugs are formed being of substantially equal length.

4. The method of forming a metal screw cap for containers and the like having a threaded neck, which comprises forming a cap blank having a top portion and a skirt, the skirt of the blank including a cylindrical portion and a plurality of strips extending downwardly therefrom, the ends of said strips being at progressively increasing distances from the top of the blank, shaving tongues of metal of substantially equal length from the inner wall of said skirt portions, starting the cuts ill at the ends oi said strips and continuing the cuts into the cylindrical portion of the skirt, to said tongues into thread=engaging lugs, and cut ting on the remnants of said strips.

5. The method of 01181; a metal screw cap for containers and the like having" a threed neck, which comprises i'ru g a cap blank m ing a top portion and a shirt longer than the skirt or" the desired cap, cutting the shut of the blank to a helical edge corresponding to the pitch line of the container thread, shaving tongues of metal of substantially equal length from the in-= er well oi the skirt of the blank starting irom said edge, forming said tongues into thread-engaging lugs, and cutting ofi the skirt of the blank below said lugs and along a plane lying substan tially at right angles to the vertical axis oi the skirt.

6. The method of forg a metal screw cap for containers and the like havingv a threaded neck, which comprises fog a cap blank hav= ing a. top portion and a skirt, stripping metal from the inner surface of the lower part of said skirt to leave an internal helical shoulder corre= spending to the pitch line of the container thread, shaving tongues of metal of substantially equal length from the inner Wall of the skirt, starting the cuts at said shoulder, and icing said tongues into thread-engaging lugs. I

7. The method of forming a an screw cap for containers and the like having a threaded neck, which comprises forming a cap blank having a top portion and a shirt, the shirt having a 'se= ries of edge portions located at progressively ln= II": t I a shirt, the inner Wall of the skirt having two surfaces one ofiset from the other, thereby forming a downwardly lacing shoulder, the shoulder so formed being along a helical line to correspond with the pitch line of the container thread, shaving tongues of metal of substantially equal length from the inner wall of the skirt, starting the cuts at said shoulder, and forming said tongues into thread-engaging lugs.

9. The method of log a metal cap for a container having a threaded neck, which comprises forming a hlanlr having a top portion and a shirt, the inner wall of the shirt having two surfaces one ofiset from the other, thereby forming a downwardly facing shoulder, the shoulder so formed being along a helical line to correspond with the pitch line of the container thread, shawing metal from the inner Wall of the skirt starting from said shoulder, the sheared metal being left integrally rooted to the wall, and forming the sheared metal into a thread-engaging element.

ore or, 

